This is why I have a shop on Etsy and teach college online.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Jury Duty
First the good stuff: FREE SHIPPING if you mention jury duty in message to seller, I will refund paypal after purchase. www.flirtbuttons.etsy.com .
This week is my week of civic duty. I was summoned to court to spend the week on call for jury duty. Jury duty is different all over the place and for different types of juries.
Mine started Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. with 95 other people in the county courthouse. I looked around, and let me tell you I was astounded that the only people there were caucasian, no blacks, no asians, no minority whatsoever. I would also say it looked like 2/3rds men. And, all I can say is, bring a book, a laptop and a sense of humor. You may also need a pillow for your sore butt. I am serious about that. Courthouses have metal detectors etc. so make sure to empty all the crap out of your purse, and items you really don't need people knowing about. Wear sensible clothes and no metal, or you get the wand treatment. They will lecture you about the history of jury duty and how you are doing the world a major favor. Then they will let you sit and rot until they figure out which cases need a jury. You will be sorted into groups of 12 and given a number. We were split into 8 groups. Group 8 only had 6 people because the other 6 failed to show up for their civic duty. Do you know what happens to you when you don't show up???? A warrant is put out for your arrest and you can spend 10 days in jail. This is a fact. I won't get into details, but I do know someone that has served the time. So, make sure you show up. On the first day groups 1,2 and 3 went up for interrogation for the first court case. The rest of us sat there until 4:15 p.m. doing absolutely nothing. I had lunch with my friend that works in the courthouse. I had brought 2 books. I read about 30 pages of the first one and decided it wasn't worth reading. I started the second one and realized that I had already read it. Luckily I brought a sudoku book, and worked out a few of the puzzles. I would have brought my 2 month old laptop but my hard drive had died the previous Thursday and I was waiting for a replacement. That is a whole other blog post. Some guy sat up front with his feet up on a table. He fell asleep and was snoring so loud that one of the clerks came in and woke him up. We are talking ultimate boredom. It is nice and airconditioned though. So for all you thin girls not experiencing menopause, bring a sweater. At the end of the day they come in to dismiss you and tell you to call the jury hotline after 6 p.m. It gives instructions for the next day. My group was told to show up at 9 a.m. at the courthouse. By 9:30 a.m. we were lined up and brought up to a courtroom. In the court were courtworkers, state prosecuters, the judge, 2 defense attorneys and the accused. I looked at him and decided he had either stolen money from a business or corporation or that he was a child molester. He was too clean cut for anything else. Sadly, it turned out that he was accused of child molestation, and we all groaned. No one wants to sit in on that case. We were split into 2 groups of 18 and then the first group sat in the jury box and was interrogated for 2.5 hours. Meanwhile we sat on the hardest most unforgiving wooden benches ever known to man. I am not a thin woman, and I had to sit on my hands because my butt was so sore. When I say interrogated, I really mean it. You will have to answer all sorts of personal questions about you, your family, and your friends. Meanwhile about 45 people are listening, including the accused. When it was my turn up in the interrogation box, I mean jury box, I made sure to let the defense attorney and his client know that I did not like them or the case. Because I truly did not like the defense attorney. He did not look us in the eye when he spoke to us and he asked questions that had absolutely nothing to do with the case. I felt he was trying to play head games, and I just don't go down that road. When they picked the jury for the case they did not pick nurses, lawyers, people with a colorful past, or me. In fact, the accused laughed when they called on me to tell me whether I was accepted or excused. It was a great relief to all of us that were excused. We left and went home to our families happy as can be to not have to listen to that case. So, Tuesday night I called the jury hotline and they told me I did not have to come in on Wednesday. I called Wednesday night and they told me I did not have to come in on Thursday, today. I will have to call tonight, about tomorrow. I doubt they will need me on Friday. So, if you don't want to sit on the jury for a case, make sure to have an attitude. A nurse with an attitude would be even better. If half the people in your family have been to court and or jail, you won't be sitting on the jury either.
This week is my week of civic duty. I was summoned to court to spend the week on call for jury duty. Jury duty is different all over the place and for different types of juries.
Mine started Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. with 95 other people in the county courthouse. I looked around, and let me tell you I was astounded that the only people there were caucasian, no blacks, no asians, no minority whatsoever. I would also say it looked like 2/3rds men. And, all I can say is, bring a book, a laptop and a sense of humor. You may also need a pillow for your sore butt. I am serious about that. Courthouses have metal detectors etc. so make sure to empty all the crap out of your purse, and items you really don't need people knowing about. Wear sensible clothes and no metal, or you get the wand treatment. They will lecture you about the history of jury duty and how you are doing the world a major favor. Then they will let you sit and rot until they figure out which cases need a jury. You will be sorted into groups of 12 and given a number. We were split into 8 groups. Group 8 only had 6 people because the other 6 failed to show up for their civic duty. Do you know what happens to you when you don't show up???? A warrant is put out for your arrest and you can spend 10 days in jail. This is a fact. I won't get into details, but I do know someone that has served the time. So, make sure you show up. On the first day groups 1,2 and 3 went up for interrogation for the first court case. The rest of us sat there until 4:15 p.m. doing absolutely nothing. I had lunch with my friend that works in the courthouse. I had brought 2 books. I read about 30 pages of the first one and decided it wasn't worth reading. I started the second one and realized that I had already read it. Luckily I brought a sudoku book, and worked out a few of the puzzles. I would have brought my 2 month old laptop but my hard drive had died the previous Thursday and I was waiting for a replacement. That is a whole other blog post. Some guy sat up front with his feet up on a table. He fell asleep and was snoring so loud that one of the clerks came in and woke him up. We are talking ultimate boredom. It is nice and airconditioned though. So for all you thin girls not experiencing menopause, bring a sweater. At the end of the day they come in to dismiss you and tell you to call the jury hotline after 6 p.m. It gives instructions for the next day. My group was told to show up at 9 a.m. at the courthouse. By 9:30 a.m. we were lined up and brought up to a courtroom. In the court were courtworkers, state prosecuters, the judge, 2 defense attorneys and the accused. I looked at him and decided he had either stolen money from a business or corporation or that he was a child molester. He was too clean cut for anything else. Sadly, it turned out that he was accused of child molestation, and we all groaned. No one wants to sit in on that case. We were split into 2 groups of 18 and then the first group sat in the jury box and was interrogated for 2.5 hours. Meanwhile we sat on the hardest most unforgiving wooden benches ever known to man. I am not a thin woman, and I had to sit on my hands because my butt was so sore. When I say interrogated, I really mean it. You will have to answer all sorts of personal questions about you, your family, and your friends. Meanwhile about 45 people are listening, including the accused. When it was my turn up in the interrogation box, I mean jury box, I made sure to let the defense attorney and his client know that I did not like them or the case. Because I truly did not like the defense attorney. He did not look us in the eye when he spoke to us and he asked questions that had absolutely nothing to do with the case. I felt he was trying to play head games, and I just don't go down that road. When they picked the jury for the case they did not pick nurses, lawyers, people with a colorful past, or me. In fact, the accused laughed when they called on me to tell me whether I was accepted or excused. It was a great relief to all of us that were excused. We left and went home to our families happy as can be to not have to listen to that case. So, Tuesday night I called the jury hotline and they told me I did not have to come in on Wednesday. I called Wednesday night and they told me I did not have to come in on Thursday, today. I will have to call tonight, about tomorrow. I doubt they will need me on Friday. So, if you don't want to sit on the jury for a case, make sure to have an attitude. A nurse with an attitude would be even better. If half the people in your family have been to court and or jail, you won't be sitting on the jury either.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Getting to 1000
my first sale
Goals and more goals. I started http://www.flirtbuttons.etsy.com/ on June 13th, 2008. My first goal was to make enough money to buy a 2nd button making machine. I had deliberated and pained over the first machine purchase. Each machine makes a different size button. I wanted the one inch machine and the 2.25 inch machine. I settled on the 2.25 inch machine because I wanted to make pocket mirrors. So, I set the goal that when I made enough money using the first machine that I could buy the 2nd one. To my surprise it only took me 3 weeks to make the money!!! I got some big orders and voila, enough money to buy the one inch machine. Meanwhile my friends and family thought I was crazy. A button making business? They obviously had no idea the amount of thought and research I had put into it. Not to mention my online selling experience. I was totally stoked having both machines. I started making all kinds of stuff, and taking over the whole house with all my fabric and paper and supplies!!!
My next goal was to hit 500 sales by the 6 month mark. Which just happened to also be my son's first birthday. He was the reason I started the button business in the first place. The age old dream of staying home with your children and making money. For me it is not a dream, it is a reality. I also teach college online. Both of my jobs are done completely at home. Back to the goal, I made it. In fact I did more than 500 sales by the 6 month mark.
The next goal was the big 1000 by my one year anniversary, also known as an etsyversary on Etsy. I knew that I could do it, but it has definitely taken a lot of marketing. It is not easy to make money after Christmas. You have to really work hard at marketing your products. One of my advantages is that I don't get a lot of sleep due to all the different things in my life that take up my time. Therefore I can be online at all different hours of the day and night. This makes me accessible to the West coast, the East coast and overseas. My sales are from all over the world. If someone asks me a question at midnight, it is quite likely that I will answer them right away. Same story goes for 8 a.m and 2 p.m., sometimes even 4 a.m. Also, because I am online for my other job, I usually leave my Etsy site open so I can check on it while I am working. Needless to say, I have worked hard and I have made my goals for my first year on Etsy.
Now I guess I better set some new goals!!!
June 13th My Etsyversary
~~~~~~HAPPY ETSYVERSARY TO ME, HAPPY ETSYVERSARY TO ME~~~~~~~ ALL POCKET MIRRORS AND BOTTLE OPENERS BUY ONE GET ONE FREE. PURCHASE ONE AND WRITE WHICH ONE YOU WANT FOR FREE IN MESSAGE TO SELLER. GOOD FROM NOW UNTIL JUNE 14TH.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
More matchy matchy zipper bags and pocket mirrors etc.
I found some more matching items in my shop: http://www.flirtbuttons.etsy.com/ and my friend's: http://www.madamecupcake.etsy.com/ Come see all our wonderful goodies.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Hey there Everyone!!!!
I have been a twittering fool lately and have become friends with MadameCupcake! She has a great little Etsy shop with lots of wonderful handsewn items and especially zipper pouches. These guys are perfect for makeup etc...
When searching her shop I came across some of the very same fabrics that I make my pocket mirrors out of. Here are a few for you to check out. I love matchy matchy stuff!!! In fact I love it so much that I have ordered some of the fabrics that she uses so that we can have more matching items!!! How great is that??? So take a peak at her shop: http://www.madamecupcake.etsy.com/ and at mine http://www.flirtbuttons.etsy.com/
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